RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Use of medical emergency team (MET) responses to detect medical errors
JF Quality and Safety in Health Care
JO Qual Saf Health Care
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 255
OP 259
DO 10.1136/qshc.2003.009324
VO 13
IS 4
A1 R S Braithwaite
A1 M A DeVita
A1 R Mahidhara
A1 R L Simmons
A1 S Stuart
A1 M Foraida
YR 2004
UL http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/13/4/255.abstract
AB Background: No previous studies have investigated whether medical emergency team (MET) responses can be used to detect medical errors. Objectives: To determine whether review of MET responses can be used as a surveillance method for detecting medical errors. Methods: : Charts of all patients receiving MET responses during an 8 month period were reviewed by a hospital based Quality Improvement Committee to establish if the clinical deterioration that prompted the MET response was associated with a medical error (defined as an adverse event that was preventable with the current state of medical knowledge). Medical errors were categorized as diagnostic, treatment, or preventive errors using a descriptive typology based on previous published reports. Results: Three hundred and sixty four consecutive MET responses underwent chart review and 114 (31.3%) were associated with medical errors: 77 (67.5%) were categorized as diagnostic errors, 68 (59.6%) as treatment errors, and 30 (26.3%) as prevention errors. Eighteen separate hospital care processes were identified and modified as a result of this review, 10 of which involved standardization. Conclusions: MET review may be used for surveillance to detect medical errors and to identify and modify processes of care that underlie those errors.